Merry Christmas from Team Torres!

We Are Lucky -- Warning: Depressing!

Maybe this should have been the content of my last post in conjunction with Thanksgiving, but after viewing a photo today on the internet, I felt compelled to say something about my lot in life and how lucky I am.

I've seen it before but it's been awhile, and maybe because I have a little girl now it's hit a little bit closer to home this time. Taken in 1994 by photojournalist Kevin Carter during the hunger crisis in Sudan, the photo shows a tiny little girl all alone literally crawling to a food camp while a vulture stalks behind her waiting for her to die of starvation. I have a lump in my throat just typing about it.

I immediately went over to Alessandra sleeping so peacefully in her Pack N Play with her big chubby, rosy cheeks, in her brand new outfit and thanked God for her, her health, and the things that we are able to provide to her. I had to snap a picture of her just then and there (above) because at that moment my heart was swelling with so much love and gratitude that I couldn't even stand it.

Whatever we money-grubbing, selfish Americans have to complain about is absolutely nothing in comparison to what others around the world have to deal with. Our economy is in shambles??? At least we HAVE an economy! And roofs over our heads and food to feed our tummies! We go out to eat and leave an entire meal's worth on the plate because we can't finish it! I am just as guilty of this as everyone else, and I need to be more conscious of it.

According to the article that I read, we don't know what became of the starving little girl. All we can hope is that she found warmth and comfort at some point since that tragic photo was taken. As for Kevin Carter, he committed suicide due to depression. We'll never know if there was any one picture that pushed him over the edge, but if all of his photos were this horrible, I'm not sure that I could run away from my thoughts either.

4th Trimester Is OVER...Sniff, Sniff...

Our little girl is growing so big so fast! In one of my favorite baby-preparation reads "Happiest Baby On the Block", Dr. Harvey Karp suggests that human babies are meant to spend a fourth trimester in utero, but evolutionary and environmental factors stepped in and made it only three (Thank the lord!) Dr. Karp's theory is that you should then try and recreate the fourth trimester as closely as possible by mimicking the sights, sounds, and feel of your uterus. His "5 Ss Technique" works wonders for calming a screaming baby down, I'm told. Thankfully, I've never had to try Swaddling, Side (lying on), Sucking, Sushing, and Swinging since little Alessandra is such a good baby. (Should I knock on wood NOW or later???) Once the "fourth trimester" is done, your baby is ready to be a real citizen of humanity! With that school of thought in mind, I was very adamant to get Alessandra accustomed to all of the changes this would entail before she is old enough to realize that she can manipulate us with some good all-out crying that WILL call for the 5 S's in action.

On Monday, December 1st, which also happened to be her 3-month birthday, I started cutting up her milk with formula. I'll start a quarter of her ration this week, move to half next week, three-quarters the week thereafter, and then she will be officially weaned. A little early, I do realize, but it's not so easy to produce enough for this bouncing baby any longer! She is drinking nearly 8 ounces at night, and would keep going if we let her!

I also started the month off by putting Ali in her "big girl bed". She is no longer at an arm's reach where we can hear the softest whimper of hers when she needs us. She is now in her very own room all by herself and thus far seems to be doing fantastic so long as we feed her enough before bed. (See previous paragraph.) :)

And finally, I switched out all of her 0-3 month clothes for 3-6 month. Again, I am reminded about how lucky we are to have so many generous friends and family who gave us oodles of beautiful clothes!!

Please note that in all of this I am saying "I" did this, and "I" did that. That is because daddy is a big softy and was having some trouble with letting his little girl go into a different room! I told him it was a probably a good idea to do it now or else I was going to let HIM rock her to sleep when she's screaming her head off at 6 or 8 months when she's trying to understand why she's being put up in another room all by herself all of a sudden. He reluctantly agreed to let me proceed. :) Don't get me wrong, it breaks my heart too!! I can see it now, fifteen years down the road when she wants to go to prom with a senior, or to a bonfire out in the boondocks. Dad will say, "Oh, just let her go for a few hours". I think I'm going to be the one laying down the law after all! Who would've thought that I would be the enforcer out of the two of us?!?!?

We had a wonderful Turkey Day and missed our families, but our friends made up for it. I made my first turkey and if I must say so myself, it turned out great! It was nice and tender and moist! I also made the green bean casserole, REAL mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and rolls. The rest of the gang all brought a dish so we had PLENTY to go around! This year I am thankful for the basics, but they are ever-so-important. Ricardo, Alessandra, family, friends, a roof over my head and food on the table, a job, a car, my health, and the list goes on...

Is Toto running for president in 2012? He sure does like holding babies!





The Turkey Day Crew



Alessandra can chill on the couch with us now in her new Bumbo chair!



The trials and tribulations of bath time!





Have a good week!

Danielle

Don't forget to register for Snapfish BEFORE you login to the group room if you haven't already:

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Portraits Are Here!

We were so excited for Sacha the photographer to drop off our image disk! I'm sure I'll be posting more of the portraits during a lengthier post, but wanted to give the heads up that all are uploaded to our Snapfish group room.

And speaking of Snapfish, I've heard a couple of complaints that folks were having trouble getting in. You will have to register as a user to the main page first, and THEN enter the group room. So, every time you go to the Snapfish main page, you'll have to log in with your own information first, and then once you go to the group room, you login with the info that I've been giving you each week.

Once again, the userinfo to get into the GROUP room is:

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Also, our photographer asked our permission to use Ali on her website! I think it's still being constructed, but keep an eye out for beautiful Alessandra under the "Portraits" section of the following website:

http://www.staufferphotography.com/

I believe she chose three photos and they will be on the 2nd page of the portraits.

Hugs from the mother of a child with the cutest naked baby butt on Earth,

Danielle :)

Today was a good day...............

Well, I thought I would give Danielle a break from updating the blog. This past week we visited the Mall of America and found a dress that would fit our little Ali for the holidays. This Saturday, we have a photographer coming over to our house to take Christmas pcitures of Alessandra. So we will have our Christmas cards in the mail hopefully in the next two weeks.

As for Alessandra herself, she is doing well. She is getting taller and today was the first day she rolled over for mom and dad. The battery in our camcorder was dead, so we will have to get in on our camcorder tomorrow.

Today, we also finalized our daycare. We decided to go with a daycare that is about a half mile away from our house. The family is very loving and left mom and dad with good feeling inside when we left the first initial interview. She will be starting the daycare in January, so Danielle better start to enjoy the time she has with Ali in her office today.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. We will be home in Saginaw next month and be able to enjoy everybody's company. Now the hard part, which family gets Alessandra for what days???????????????????????????????????

We will keep all of you posted next week and may even give a sneak peek to our Christmas pictures.

Love,

The Torres family

My Girl

My girl. Damn I love her. That's about all I can say. Nothing more, nothing less. From the new sounds she makes as she figures her vocal chords out to the way she fills her diapers like nobody's business, everything about her is freaking amazing. I cannot believe this little miracle of life came out of me! And she affirms my gratefulness every single day as I get her out of bed to get ready for work and she throws back the hugest smile just because I'm her mama and I'm the only one that's making her happy right at that particular moment.

This week was her 2 month wellness checkup and she is healthy as a horse, and as big as one too! She's clocking in at 11 lbs, 11 ozs and is 23.5 inches long. That puts her in 90th and 96th percentiles respectively. Her head is in the 53rd percentile though so she is average there. Hooray for mother's milk, it does a body good!!!

We've moved into the new office and our routine is officially established! We start winding her down every night at around 8, but she probably falls asleep closer to 10 or 10:30. Then she sleeps for about EIGHT HOURS!!! She wakes me up to eat early morning, naps until I get her up for work, then she falls asleep on the car ride to work. I just leave her in her car seat once we get to work and she sleeps until around noon. It's GREAT! From what I understand we are very lucky to have such a sleeper!

Day care search is just about over and also, holiday photos coming up!

That's all I got! Here are some more photos for your enjoyment.

Mommy and Ali



Khoa and Ali at Mean Jean's Annual Thanksgiving Day Dinner



As always, don't forget to check out our Snapfish page!

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Oh yeah, one more thing. I've given in and joined Facebook...I'm such a follower! Look me up if I haven't found you already!

Hugs!!

Danielle

Victory!

Happy Halloween!

You're looking at the extent of our Halloween costume for Alessandra this year. She was given so many adorable outfits for Halloween week, that we just opted to dress her up festively every day instead of one specific costume for a day. Isn't she just the cutest little pumpkin?

Jen and I both were given outfits for our little ones from the folks below our office suite. Of course it's the law that they wear them on the same day! Watch out Sawyer and Gavin, Ethan's movin' in on your lady!! They are already showing PDA...Look at them holding hands! :)



Every day Ali is doing something new and entertaining to make us laugh. She has been smiling and making all sorts of fun noises and coos. She definitely makes my heart swell on more than one occasion a day. Here she is exploring her new playgym. She squeals and laughs at the fish and the mirror hanging down from the bar.



...And the Most No Good Very Bad Horrible Horrific Mother of the Year Award goes to...Danielle Torres! The below picture is not just another one of those aforementioned scary Halloween outfits...That is real blood on the front of her onesie! :(


Ali was badly in need of a manicure before she scratched her eyeballs out of her head! I've been filing her little nails up until now, or else tearing them off. The filing takes forever though and I'm always on borrowed time with her patience level when it comes to doing it. Same with tearing them, plus there's always this smelly gunk that somehow gets caught underneath her fingernails and I have no idea where it comes from. Then MY hands smell like the gunk and it's just not my favorite scent in the world. SO, I decide that I should give one of the eleventy billion tiny little nail clippers that we have somehow accumulated a shot. I mean, after all, they are made for babies and they have that little Red Cross symbol on them. Doesn't that mean that they are safe no matter what? I get started on clipping and get to the second finger, her little pointer. The minute I clipped down I heard a blood curdling scream to which I immediately knew what I had done. Sure enough, I see that I had clipped half of her nail off, poor thing. She was bleeding like a stuck pig! I actually cried too knowing that I, the very person that she depends on to make her feel warm and fuzzy, inflicted that kind of pain on my poor baby. Thankfully, I was able to calm her (and myself) down rather quickly and get her to sleep. I wrapped her arm in the blanket so she wouldn't get blood everywhere while she slept. Clearly, her hand stayed in the same spot on her belly just as I had intended as evidenced by the GIGANTIC blood spot that was there when I lifted up the blanket. I think my gasp alone scared her back awake. Thankfully, there seemed to be no residual pain, as she seemed fine from that point on. All the same, I feel horrible! Child Protective Services, I don't blame you if you want to come arrest me!

Here's a closeup of her finger that I managed to mangle :(:



This week there is lots going on! We are moving office locations, so we'll be busy getting set up in our new digs which is always exciting for a fresh start. And speaking of fresh starts, don't forget to vote on Tuesday! I am SO anxious for all of these door-knockers, robocalls, junk mail, and slanderous commercials to come to an end! I also plan to get back in the swing of things at the gym. I gotta get this post-baby body back to it's pre-baby shape (and then some)! Maybe I should still be posting weekly belly shots for motivation! :)

Have a great week all, and hugs all around!

Danielle

Ali Isn't The Only New Kid On The Block!

Indeed she is a "Proud Product of the Team Torres Expansion Project". Thanks Auntie Ang for the Onesie! It sure is a lot cuter when Alessandra is in it as opposed to hanging on a clothesline in your living room! :)

Since it's been a couple of weeks since I posted, lots of fun updates to share again! This time, I'll try to keep it short and sweet since I have a lot to report.

We went back to work last Monday, October 20th and it hasn't been half bad. And yes, I said "we"! Ali has been accompanying me to work every day, and my office is now transformed into a nursery! Jen has also been bringing Ethan in so our office suite looks like a day care! As poopy as Carrie could be about all of this, she is actually doing quite well and enjoying it! She is sure to stop in our offices several times a day to say hello to Ethan and Ali, and she stops in my office each night to get Ali ready to go home. (Puts her jacket on, straps her in her car seat, packs away her things..) Thanks Auntie Carrie! After all, you do have some practice to do in preparation for when your sister Courtney goes into labor ANY MINUTE!

Here are some "All In A Day's Work" Pics:

My Office



Carrie entertaining Alessandra with the Boppy pillow one evening while she was packing her up to go



Jen's Office (and Jen and Ethan of course!)



The weekend before we went back to work, Alessandra got to meet cousin Carlos!



THEN...Liza Pie got last-minute tickets to go see the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK! This was my second NKOTB concert...The first was in 1989 when I was truly rockin' out with the tshirt and big pin. At that time, my faves were Joey and Jordan. I must say that this time around, the other three (Donny, Danny, and Jon) are the hottest! Oh, to love a boy band!

Liza and I at the show



Work Buddy Scott and I



The NKOTB!



And finally, here's a funny for you at our poor friends Jessica, Dennis, and Gavin's expense: Jess' family had a shower for her and put forth tons of effort to make a beautiful cake with Gavin's photo and stats. When her aunt asked her which photo to use, Jess sent a file of all of her blog pictures that she's posted and told her to pick any one, Jess liked them all. Does the picture that she chose look familiar to you??? Here's Jess displaying the masterpiece for us:



That's right! That would be an image of Alessandra...Oops! Well, I have to be honest, it IS a gorgeous cake! Sorry for the cake snafu, but we LOVED it!! :) And speaking of Gavin...He came home on Friday!!!! Great news and a day that we've all been waiting for. Congrats once and for all, Anding Family! Ali can't wait to meet her buddy!

That's all she wrote for this week's post. Have a wonderful rest of the week and I'll talk to you all again soon!

Don't forget to check out the new pics posted at Snapfish!

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Hugs,

Danielle

Pimples, (No) Sleep, Visitors, Fashion Shows, Nieces and Nephews

That's my girl in her adorable new winter coat. And YES, it has EARS on it! And YES, I said WINTER coat! :( Today was chilly enough to warrant her to wear it while we ran a quick errand. As a true bear would say...Grrrr.

Sorry for the delay in posting. Honestly, I didn't even realize that two weeks have elapsed since my last entry. Shame on me!

Still dealing with Alessandra's baby acne, only now it's all the way down to her shoulders and completely covering her face, poor girl. The good news is that the dry skin is gone, so it's no longer combination skin, just plain ol' acne. Hooray for small conquests!

Also new since my last post is our attempt at establishing a routine for Ali. We put her to bed every night at 8:00. Then she's up again at 8:15. Then she fights off sleep until around 12 or 1 in the morning. It's a true joy, I tell you. Nothing beats drifting off to sleep while your arm is tingling with pins and needles all while holding a pacifier in your child's mouth in the bassinet next door just to keep her calm enough to possibly drift off herself. Heck, if my arm can fall asleep, why can't my daughter?!? The cruel irony of all it all is that she tends to fall asleep right before bedtime at around 7:00 or so and when we try and wake her then, she can't be roused. Yet in the middle of the night, she awakes to a pin drop!

Here is Cardo trying to wake her on one such evening. Not even a hard kiss to the chubby cheek will work!



We also had the pleasure of entertaining the last of our visitors last week. Cardo's parents were in town to meet their sixth granddaughter. Here are some photos of the whole family minus Yolanda, Jeff and Gianna. Miss you guys!





And speaking of Yolanda, guess who's going to be an aunt again?!?! NO, not Yolanda, silly! ME!!! We just found out that Yole is expecting and due in May. We couldn't be more thrilled that Ali will have a cousin so close in age! Will it be the seventh granddaughter for the Torres family, or will they have the very first boy? We won't know until May as they're keeping it a surprise. Fun! Here's Gianna making the big announcement to daycare along with some chocolate cupcakes.



Also visiting was my oldest best friend, Kristi. We had a great time and she was ever-so-patient while I slept in after being up all night and she even cleaned my house. What did I do to deserve that?!? (Oh yeah, I guess it was simply just maintaining my lifestyle as a slob). Here are Kristi and Alessandra during our very first outing at the Mall of America. Yes, I know...I am insane for taking my daughter out to the stinkin' MOA for her first time out, what a germ factory. But then again, why the heck not?!? It's the MOA! Unlike her mother, it seems that Ali is a natural shopper, she was very patient and relaxed the entire time!



Now, I've never been one to play with dolls even as a little girl as my mother will tell you. However, I'm starting to realize how much I missed out! I have been having so much fun dressing Alessandra up in all of her various little outfits and of course I have to take pictures! I am SO "that mom" that has to take a photo of every little outfit and facial expression. I'm succumbing to everything that I said I wouldn't do! Nine months ago, you would have heard me saying "If it's a girl, you will NOT see her wearing all pink or frilly little dresses." What I didn't realize at that time is that it's just something innate that takes over your entire being! My baby girl is now the frilliest, pinkest, foo-fooist little one around. Sad, but true. Here is my fashion portfolio as of late:













Finally, the cutest picture ever of my nephew Marley. Alison found his twin on eBay. Here he is making friends with his new buddy:



Don't forget to check out the latest pics on Snapfish!

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Moooooo!

I like to nap. No, I take that back. I LOVE to nap. And yes, I feel a tad guilty for sleeping so much and wasting much of the day, but I'm taking full advantage before I am back to work again in two weeks. What I'll do for rest when I do go back? Umm...Well, I can drink caffeine. When I'm not breastfeeding. Which is never. So I can't. Maybe I can get some of those fake eyeballs that you put over your closed eyelids so it looks like I'm wide awake at my desk.

And speaking of breastfeeding, Alessandra's eating schedule has taken over my life. I am officially no longer just a girl. I am a girl with udders. Not only do I have to have them whipped out and available every two to three hours, but I also have to be sure and have a decent amount pumped out should I decide that I want to, oh, I don't know...Run to the grocery store or to Target for a quick stop without her. And forget about drinking a large amount of caffeine or even going out for a night (while Grandma and Grandpa are here to babysit...I wish!) to have a glass of wine. That's that much milk I would have to waste because it's tainted with the devil's poison that I've grown to miss so much since the last time I've had it around New Year's Eve, 2008. It's gotten so bad that the other night I had a nightmare that I was pumping waist deep in the middle of an ocean somewhere and feeling devastated as I watched all of the fruits of my labor trickle into the water wasted. As much as I'm not a fan of being tied to the "Lactation Leash" though, I know that it's best for Ali and I will continue to persist for at least a few more months so she can reap all of the benefits and we can continue to bond. I'll just be sure and remind her about how much of an effort that I put forth when she's fifteen telling me how much she hates me because I won't drive her to the mall.

Of course, for as much as she eats, she poops twice as much. Never before has another human being shat upon me so nonchalantly and callously, and never before would I have entertained the fact that I would have treated that human being with such adoration after being shat upon. I strongly believe that her defecation schedule is cold and calculated. Alessandra seems to wait until a visitor is holding her just so, with their hand supporting the very butt that will eject the stuff of [now] legend and she will let it rip. There is never any question as to whether she filled her drawers at that very moment. The distinct and wet sound of baby poo being spewed along with the pressure washer feel against the holders' hand makes everyone aware that a diaper change is in the very near future. Her other favorite game to play is "I'm Going to Poop In Your Face!" This is when you wait until you are positive she is done dirtying her diaper and you sort of lean down there with the wipes to make sure you are getting her nice and clean and she will give it one last push to try and get you square in the face. Luckily, she has not yet succeeded at this game's goal quite yet...But she's been too close for comfort. And...I am officially one of those mothers who discusses her child's poop. Joy.

We've also been dealing with a mean case of combination skin that would make any teenager relate. At the same time that we are lathering her skin with lotion to fend of what resembles Leper-like conditions with dry and peeling skin, we are also dealing with "baby acne" as they call it, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Poor girl. Let's just hope that she's getting it over with now so when she is a teenager she'll have picture-perfect skin.

The only other complaint that I have coming out of all of this so far is not so much the Baby Blues as they call it, but moreso the Baby Bitterness. I find myself very bitter and resentful (especially with poor Ricardo) when he is simply able to step out for an errand, head to the bar with friends to watch the game, or fix himself a nightcap on a Friday evening. Little events that I took for granted pre-baby are now a thing of the past.

All of these seemingly negative things that I have just mentioned, however, are NOTHING in comparison to all of the positive experiences and feelings that having my daughter has brought to me. Not only is she such a good baby, she is just so darn CUTE! Here she is in her outfit that Aunt Yole got her, the Trumpette socks that Aunt Kristi sent, on top of the bunny blanket that Aunt Dawn gave her, which is on top of the Boppy that Jen gave to us. We are so spoiled already with all of these goodies from friends and family! My favorite is when she sleeps with her arms up like that. I read somewhere that when a baby sleeps with their arms up, they are extremely content. :)



She only seems to cry when she needs something, so we just start from the top of the list and work our way down. Check the diaper, feed her, wrap her in a blanket and hold her. She also seems to get a little bit grumpy each night before she falls asleep which I can handle if she does that before I am in bed too as opposed to in the middle of the night. We really only have to get up with her once in the middle of the night and she'll just alert us with a bit of grunting and rolling around in her bassinet. She also grunts when she streeeeeeeetttches every morning when we take her out of her swaddler PJs. This routine probably last around 15 minutes every day. She just sits there in her little diaper and stretches with those arms over her head and makes big grunting noises all while she makes funny faces. It is the cutest thing ever, I love her so much.

Grandma and Grandpa Torres are visiting this week and were so excited to meet their sixth granddaughter. Grandma T has a great singing voice which seems to entertain Ali quite a bit since there are no decent singing voices under this roof! I don't think I know all the words to a single lullaby even if I did. I best study up!



On the agenda this week: Kristi is coming in tomorrow from Charleston while Cardo goes off recruiting at Michigan State. I'll be happy to have Kristi in to help me but also just to see her! I haven't seen her since my wedding two years ago! Hard to believe it's been that long...

Not sure if this will work, but I've created a Snapfish account so that you can view all the rest of the photos that I haven't posted here. I've posted one huge album that contains almost all of the pictures since early pregnancy until now, but the albums should be much smaller moving forward. Please let me know if you can't get in.

Use the following link and code to gain access and enjoy!:

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra

Two Weeks Down, 17 Years and 50 Weeks To Go

The New Torres Family

Wowee, it's been a long two weeks. How can it be that at the same time it feels like an incredibly short two weeks too? It seems like we've had Alessandra forever already and yet we are still trying to figure her out. Well, I suppose I should tell my side of the story to document the whole thing. A story I'll undoubtedly relay to little Ali every September 7th just like my mom does to me every January 3rd (my birthday)..."Do you know that x amount of years ago I was in labor for THREE DAYS with you???" Anyway, buckle up since this will most likely be a novel of a post.

Let us go back to Saturday morning, September the 6th. While lying in bed I thought I felt a little "trickle". At that point I was pretty doubtful that anything exciting would happen between then and my induction scheduled for Monday morning, but without going into too much detail it just felt a little different than anything else that had been happening for the last ten months. That in conjunction with Doctor West telling me that she thought there might be a good chance that I could go before Monday prompted me to err on the side of caution and give the on call doctor a jingle. After a brief Q&A session, Doctor Frisch thought I should make a trip into the MAC (Maternal Assessment Center) at the hospital to see if my water had indeed broken. Statistics will tell you that only 10-15% of women experience their water breaking before contractions begin and once it does break, you should head to the hospital as soon as possible since that bag of waters protects the baby from all sorts of bacteria and other squirmy germies. So, I made the call that Ricardo had been waiting for for 41 weeks..."Honey, It's time!" Of course, his ideal scenario would NOT be my having pulled him out of the middle of a basketball game, but such is life. :) Off we went to the hospital knowing that the next time we head home we could very well not be alone any longer. After a brief check in and a few tests done at the MAC, however, it was determined that I had not ruptured and we were subsequently sent home. Darn.

Fast forward to around 9:30 Saturday evening when I was doing a load of laundry that I would most assuredly not be able to get accomplished following Monday's induction. I bent over to grab a pile of towels to throw in and I felt a "pop". Upon straightening up to full posture I felt a very definitive gush...Lovely. Glad I was already doing a load of laundry, I guess. What I learned from that morning's adventure is that if my water had broken, then I should lay down with a towel underneath and it should continue to flow out. So I did. And it didn't. Either way, at this point I'm going bonkers. So, I called Doctor Frisch again who told me that she would hate for me to go all the way into the MAC again only to get sent home, so I ought to sit tight and see if anything else Earth-shattering occurs. Great. All of a sudden I'm not only paranoid about every little thing that happens, but now I'm very quickly earning the reputation of the hypochondriac pregnant lady that is ruining the good Doctor's Saturday night.

Lesson learned, I decide to retire for the evening. Or so I think. About an hour later I started having some contractions. I resolve to not call in since the infamous Braxton Hicks contractions are known to be some pretty good fakeouts. Then the Braxton Hicks started coming closer and closer together and were more painful than well...ANYTHING I've ever felt before (and I hope to ever feel again.) I thought I had a pretty good tolerance for pain too. Little did I know that upon feeling these mamma jammas, I'd literally shake like a leaf and sweat like a Gladiator in the middle of a death match. If this wasn't real labor, then I decided right then and there that I don't ever want to go through real labor, because any pain worse than that just might kill me. Time to call my new stalking interest, Doctor Frisch. Either because she was tired of me calling her or else she really did believe me this time, she advised me to go ahead and go into the MAC again.

Never before have I gotten such VIP treatment! Ricardo dropped me off at the front door of the Emergency Room where my very own wheelchair escort was summoned. As nice as the lady was that was pushing me from the ER to the MAC, I sure hope she was used to pushing ladies in labor. I just couldn't seem to engage in a productive conversation with her like she wanted to. Sorry Super Nice Wheelchair-Pusher Lady! (She told me her name, but she couldn't expect me to remember it, could she?!?) At the MAC, the same tests were administered with very different results this time. I was dilated to a 4 and was 100% effaced...WELL on my way into labor. Admit One, please! I officially had earned my ticket into the Having a Baby show! Wardrobe! Grab this fine young lady her costume...The very sexy hospital gown and robe! Get her into her labor and delivery room! While all of this was happening, all I could think of at this point was the Epidural and how long it would be before I met Saint Anesthesiologist. (Has he been canonized yet? If not, then he should be!)

I feel like there were two different parts of my labor. Pre- and Post-Epidural. Pre = Terrible. Post = Not so awful. An hour after the MAC assessment, I was checked again and was dilated to an 8. Little Ali was still pretty far up there though, so they thought I should take a little snooze and relax before I had to start pushing while we waited for my body to work her down a little more. Cardo unfolded the cot that would be his for the next three days and I did the best I could to take a catnap while nurses occasionally came in and poked and prodded at me. We slept until around 8:00 Sunday morning when Doctor Frisch thought we should give it another hour before we started pushing since Alessandra was "sunny side up"...Meaning she was face up, where all the little bumps of her facial features would make it more difficult to get out from under the pelvic bone. I laid in a "corkscrew" position to try and get her to turn to which she did not comply. Already being stubborn...Boy am I in for it. At 9:00, the pushing thus commenced.

I was completely numb from the waist down and well-rested. Cardo was an awesome counter. The nurse and Doctor F. were great about telling me where to focus. It should come as no surprise with all of these factors then that evidently, I am a "good pusher"! Sort of equally frustrating and encouraging at the same time is that Dr. F. told me that had Ali been face down like she should have been, I would have had her out in 15 minutes! Instead, almost 4 hours later, we were all scratching our heads. Dr. F. decided that our last resort before I got booked for a C-Section was to bust out the Hoover...That's right, we were attempting to vacuum my little one out! At that point I was willing to try anything, so it sounded like a great idea to me! I have no idea how it even works since I was just concentrating on getting her out, but however it operates, it did the trick! Hooray!! Alessandra to this day has a little tripod of scabs on her head, and for her first few days had a giant hickey where it suctioned her out, poor peanut. Because of this minor trauma to her head, they had to watch her for jaundice for the first few days, but she turned out just fine.

Alessandra's First Few Minutes

After 12 Hours in Labor, I am Exhausted

Since that moment, the last 16 days have been a whirlwind. As much as it seems like I am living the same day over and over again (changing diapers, nursing, babbling baby talk, then repeat a minimum of 12 times a day), at the risk of sounding too cliche, being a parent is so rewarding too. I sometimes catch myself just staring at her tiny fingers and toes and can't believe that we made those little digits. Her facial expressions are so cute and she has no idea what she's even doing just yet. Here is this little human being that we are entirely responsible for and how can we be so sure that we are doing the right thing in order to make her a good citizen? Only time will tell, I guess. Until then, I'll just continue to obsess over the fact that I shall now become a mother from Good Housekeeping. Would anyone care for a souffle? No? Okey Doke. Mickey D's it is.

Through all of this we have had nothing short of an amazing support system amongst friends, relatives, and neighbors. I can't get over how folks come out of the woodwork to show such generosity and well wishes. We have been showered with so many gifts, cards, meals, flowers, and visits that my list of thank you cards to go out is impossibly long! I promise I will be sending something out (as well as birth announcements) very soon! I'm finally getting this routine down and will soon be able to figure out some extra time to write them out. For now, please know that we are so incredibly grateful and realize that we are one of the luckiest families on Earth!

And now a brief (and nowhere complete) history of the past two weeks in a montage of photos:

Angie Pays a Visit

Angel and Isabella

Daddy Takes a Break from the MSU Game?!? Amazing!

Cousins Isabella, Alexis, and Aunt Dawn

Taking a Rest After a Long Day!

Grandma Jo (who has an amazing ability to calm Ali down)

Nancy, Gabriella and Carlos

Jessica

Cousin Katie

Liza

Grandma Jo, Sawyer and My Engorged Breasts (I feel like they deserve their own recognition since by all rights they were an entire separate entity that day)

Christine, Serena, and Steve

Also, under the Great News Umbrella to those of my constant readers, Jen from the office had her gorgous boy as well! Congrats to the Uecker family and please welcome Ethan John to the baby boom!

Shane, Jen, new big brother Noah and baby Ethan

Ethan was another big boy: Born at 9 lbs, 10 ounces and 22 inches long!



Daddy-to-Be (at the time) Ricardo Practicing with Ethan

Sorry about the long gap in posting. Hopefully I'll continue the updates weekly as I have been doing, but who can say with my new career in motherhood taking up most of my time??? I want to keep you all updated on Ali Mae's progress and this seems to be a viable method of doing so, so I fully intend on making an effort! That being said, I'll talk to you next week! (I hope.)

Hugs!

Danielle